Berlin Weighs In On State Hospital Site

Berlin town officials and disability rights advocates agree that the state should locate its new state mental health hospital next to the Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin.

Town
officials in Berlin want the state to build its new mental health hospital
next to Central Vermont Medical Center rather than adjacent to the town's elementary school,
and disability rights advocates agree.

In August, the state hospital in Waterbury was washed out in Tropical Storm Irene. The
Shumlin administration and Legislature agreed to a decentralized state hospital
system. Regional care is planned in Brattleboro and Rutland. Two locations have been identified in Berlin for a 16- to 25-bed state hospital. One is behind the
Vermont State Library along Paine Turnpike and the other next to the Central Vermont Medical Center.

Berlin select board members say they would like the new
hospital to be built next to the Medical Center.

"There
is some concern that the Paine Turnpike or regional library site is probably
not the best site," says Jeff Schulz, Berlin's town administrator. Schulz says some residents are
worried about the site's proximity to the town's elementary school.

"That
area is part of what the town has labeled as town center and the town has a
long-term plan to develop that area into a commercial base," Schulz says.

The
town doesn't want land removed from its grand list of taxable property, so it
will seek payment from the state in lieu of taxes.

Mental
health advocates say they also would like to see the new facility built next to
the Medical Center. They say it would provide easy access to specialty physical
and mental health care.

Ed
Paquin, executive director of Disability Rights Vermont, says the state's
decision will affect the treatment of thousands of Vermonters.

"We
don't need another isolated state hospital - something that's not seen as part
of wider system," Paquin says.

The
proximity between the mental hospital and the medical center, Paquin says, should
benefit patients with longer-term needs. "When you need that level of care it
shouldn't be treated as though it were the poor second cousin of medical care."

The
state is expected to make its decision between the two proposed sites in the
coming weeks, and Berlin's Development Review Board will then consider the
state's plan for a new facility later this summer.